The reason: contrary to what every Pakistani believes, Singh holds that “Jinnah was never able to define Pakistan until 1946 because he was not for it.” In essence, his contention is that the architect of Pakistan had no architecture for Pakistan!
The expelled BJP leader, who was here on Saturday for a formal launch of his book, gave this version on Pakistan’s Quaid-e-Azam during an informal interaction with Deccan Herald.
Though Singh is liberal with his praise for Pakistan’s founder through the book, Pakistanis would find it hard to endorse his view that Jinnah was not for the creation of an independent and sovereign state of Pakistan until late 1946.
That is not how history books in Pakistan portray Jinnah or the politics of Muslim League under his stewardship since the early 1940s.
The Jinnah-inspired Lahore Resolution of 1940 adopted by the League was not about a separate state of Pakistan but all about protection of Muslim interests in India against a “Hindu Congress,” reservation of seats for Muslims in Central and provisional legislatures and autonomy for Muslim majority provinces, Singh maintains.
Media creation
That the Lahore Resolution came to be better known as “Pakistan resolution” was a media creation, Singh asserted. Singh, who invited summary expulsion from the party he served for almost three decades, was expected to visit Pakistan for formal launch of his book.
Though some dates have been in circulation for the visit, Singh said nothing had been finalised as yet.
If Pakistanis would find it difficult to accept Singh’s assertion that Jinnah had not envisaged an independent Pakistan until very late, the argument he advanced in the book that Nehru and Sardar Patel were responsible for the Partition has already incurred the wrath of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress alike.
Portrayal
But in line with his positive portrayal of Jinnah, Singh continued to defend L K Advani’s comments about the Pakistan founder four years ago.
His severe criticism of Advani notwithstanding, Singh said the BJP strongman’s positive remark about Jinnah during his visit to the Jinnah Mausoleum in Karachi in 2005 was a matter of “courtesy.”
DH News Service
